Nintendo unconcerned by failure, says Iwata

Former Nintendo president Hiroshi Yamauchi taught Satoru Iwata and Nintendo not to be afraid of failure.

Speaking at the B Dash Camp in Osaka, as translated by The Bridge, Iwata explained that Nintendo’s history is full of both good and bad experiences, but that it was important for the company to consistently innovate.

He said Nintendo was “not good at competing”, so had to challenge the status quo to get ahead.

“If you do the same thing as others, it will wear you out,” said Iwata.

“Nintendo is not good at competing so we always have to challenge [the status quo] by making something new, rather than competing in an existing market.”

He added: “It’s often called the ‘Blue Ocean Strategy’, looking for something that no one else is working on. When we created the DS, people said it was strange to have a dual display, and people said elderly people don’t play games. But they did. Opening the first door is when things are most interesting.”

Last year Nintendo released its latest home console, the Wii U, featuring a unique tablet shaped controller to utilise a second-screen experience. The hardware has struggled somewhat to gain traction with consumers however, and lifetime sales currently stand at around 3.45 million units.

Iwata recently said however that Nintendo was striving to return to ‘Nintendo-like’ profits by the end of March 2014, after posting an operating loss for the fiscal year ending March 2013.

“We strive to regain ‘Nintendo-like’ profits for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2014 by providing many people with fascinating games and services,” he said.

“We continue to make brand-new and unique proposals, and make efforts for the growth of the home entertainment industry with a mission that is to pleasantly surprise people and put smiles on the faces of everyone Nintendo touches.”